The newest suit
A kid that reminds me of Brent..... a LOT
Dear Family!!!!!!!
This week was amazing!!!!! I`m so happy to be back in the field again :) :) We had so many spiritual experiences this week. On Thursday I went to a place called Guaranda. It`s 2 hours from where we`re at right now, but it`s part of our zone. We went to their district meeting and afterwards we went in divisions with the 2 companionships there. It was a fun trip. On the way there we had to pass by Chimborazo, the biggest volcano in Ecuador (it`s inactive though). I got some sweet pictures that I attached here in the e-mail ;)
On Friday we had a really awesome experience with a part-member family here. The mom and the daughter aren`t baptized and the dad is a recent convert. The mom hadn`t accepted a baptismal date because she is having some opposition with her family. We had an amazing lesson with her. We helped her see that there is an opposition in all things and that it`s part of the process. She had a change in her during the lesson and she and her daughter accepted a baptismal date for this weekend (March 12)!!!!!
Last night we had another amazing experience. We were teaching a family that has been listening and attending church for a long time. It`s another part-member family where 2 of the daughters are recent converts. We were working on putting a date with the mom because she is the one that goes to church every week (the dad is an alcoholic but was present in the lesson and not drunk). My companion started off being very direct with her because he has been teaching her for so long. In my opinion he was being to direct, it was a little bit offensive. When I started talking I just asked her some questions and she just said that she wants to be sure of her desicion when she makes it. Later on I asked why she kept going to church and she said that she feels good there and that her week goes better when she goes to church. I asked her if she felt safe and secure and church. She told me yes. I asked her how she knew that and she sat quietly for a minute and the Spirit entered in the room very very strongly. She didn`t answer but I knew what she was thinking so I asked her if she would be prepared to be baptized on March 19. She said yes and that she would keep praying to know and keep reading to feel more sure about her desicion. As we were about to say the prayer, the dad asked, "What would I have to do to be baptized?" It surprised all of us when he said that. We told him that he`d have to go to church and that he`d have to stop drinking. He said that he would talk with his wife and that he would have an answer for us today (we have an appointment with them tonight). The Spirit was so strong that he had a change within him and he felt the need to be baptized. It was an amazing experience!!!!! I love teaching by the Spirit :) :) :)
Well, today and tomorrow are are holidays for Ecuador. It`s called Carnaval. They all started since last week just for the fun of it. Basically everyone drinks a lot and everyone is throwing water, flour, eggs, ink, something that looks like colored shaving cream, etc. They keep getting me because I`m white and tall and I guess I`m a good target for them. They`ve only thrown water except for one time they threw purple ink at me (picture attached) so it hasn`t been too bad. I actually caught a water balloon and threw back at the people that threw it at me once. That`s right when they hit me with an ink filled balloon :)
I love you all so much. I`m so grateful for your letters and for your support during this time. I love serving the Lord. I am closer to Him now than I ever was before and I love it!!!
Love,
Èlder Hakes
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